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Selling the company

Questions to ask a lawyer before selling your company

Dealing with selling the company? Describe it in your own words, and Tellbrief turns your answers into a short brief with the questions worth asking and the records to have ready, so your first call with a lawyer starts further ahead.

For example: A buyer on the other side, unclear contributor ownership, and assets in a founder’s name. A brief for this founder suggests the lists below.

Questions worth asking

  1. What will a buyer ask to see, and what should we fix first?
  2. What should move from a founder’s name into the company’s name, and how?
  3. Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made?Under U.S. copyright law, a contractor owns the copyright in what they make unless it falls in one of nine narrow categories with a signed agreement, or they sign it over in writing.1,2

Records to have ready

  • Your cap table: who owns what share of the companyRaising money or selling starts from who owns what.
  • Any SAFEs, notes, options or equity promised to anyoneEarlier promises affect what you can offer now.
  • Your formation documents and founder stock agreementsThey show how the company was set up.
  • Any draft agreement, term sheet or letter from the other sideSomeone else is on the other side of this deal.
  • Anything showing contributors signed over their workIt’s unclear whether the company owns everything it uses.
  • Records of who owns your domain and key accountsSome accounts or assets may not be in the company’s name.

Your brief builds its own lists from your answers.

Build your own brief

About 30 questions, most of them one tap. No account and no card during early access. Tellbrief isn’t a law firm and doesn’t give legal advice.

Start your brief

Questions founders ask

What questions should I ask a lawyer about selling the company?

For the founder in this example, the brief suggests: What will a buyer ask to see, and what should we fix first? What should move from a founder’s name into the company’s name, and how? Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made? Your own brief builds its list from your answers.

What should I have ready before the first call?

For this example: Your cap table: who owns what share of the company; Any SAFEs, notes, options or equity promised to anyone; Your formation documents and founder stock agreements; Any draft agreement, term sheet or letter from the other side; Anything showing contributors signed over their work; Records of who owns your domain and key accounts. Your own brief lists what fits your answers.

Is this legal advice?

No. Tellbrief organizes your information so the first conversation with your lawyer starts further ahead. It isn’t a law firm, and using it doesn’t make anyone your lawyer. Legal advice comes from a licensed lawyer, once they agree to take on your matter.

What does it cost?

Your brief is free during early access, with no card and no account. If you’d like Jordan to take on the work, he reads your answers first, then talks through the scope and his fee with you before any work starts. Tellbrief takes no share of it.

How long does it take?

About 30 questions once the names are cleared, and most take one tap. Plan on 10 to 15 minutes.

Other situations

  1. 17 U.S.C. § 101, “work made for hire” (opens in a new tab).
  2. 17 U.S.C. § 204(a) (opens in a new tab). Sources 5 and 7–11 are from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. General information, not legal or tax advice.

What’s in your brief

One page that sums up your situation, then every answer you gave. It’s yours to keep and to take to any lawyer.

  1. The basics at a glance: what the business is, its stage, whether it’s formed and where it sells. Plus what’s changing, in one line.
  2. Your question for your lawyer, plus a few more worth asking, picked from your answers.
  3. Records to have ready, based on your answers. Send them only if your lawyer asks.
  4. Every answer you gave, grouped by topic. The reviewing lawyer also gets a private note on where to look first.

Open a sample brief (opens in a new tab) PDF · made-up company